Before the lights go down, there is a racket. The giggling and whining of about 3,000 grade-school children echo throughout the theater, filling it up to its rounded roof. This is a tough crowd, but Dan Kamin is used to that both in the United States and abroad.
When the Carnegie Mellon alumnus has taken his self-described "Comedy in Motion" to the streets of, say, China, he says it's not that different from New York City, except that a police officer periodically disperses the crowd and eventually demands that he leave. But before he is shooed away, the people laugh. It helps, he admits, that in China the concept of a mime isn't solidified as an annoying attempt at comedy. In the States, he knows promoters must be cautious when they book his act, "You don't want to say a mime is coming to town," he says, "that's the kiss of death."
The La Porte, Ind., audience is too young to have mime stereotypes. But they probably think their mutterings are more interesting than anything onstage. No amount of shushing from teachers quells them, but as lights fade, the noises drop off to whispers and muted squeals. The youngsters watch a serious man walk onstage in front of the musicians.
About 40 years ago, Kamin was walking into a much smaller theater, not to perform, but to attend a movie screening at the campus film series. The film was The Gold Rush, starring Charlie Chaplin. Kamin was captivated by the silent film's humor. "The movie literally changed my life," he recalls.
From his fascination with Chaplin's work, Kamin (A'68) developed a desire to act out silent comedy. He has also written books about the actor: Charlie Chaplin's One-Man Show (Scarecrow Press, 1984), which includes a preface by another mime legend, Marcel Marceau; and The Comedy of Charlie Chaplin: Artistry in Motion (Scarecrow Press, 2008). In part of that book, Kamin recounts how he trained Robert Downey Jr. to portray the silent film star in the 1992 film Chaplin. Downey received an Oscar nomination for his performance.
Kamin remains devoted to performing. "I never thought people would keep hiring me to do this," he says. "As the years have gone on, though, new doors keep opening up." He has performed both with renowned orchestras and as a solo act, including a benefit last year in Shanghai for the earthquake victims.
His experience has taught him that there are just seconds to win over the school children staring at him in this rural Indiana theater. When the orchestra strikes up the tune, the students listen for a moment. Just when they are about to start murmuring again, Kamin swats at his leg. His face contorts into an expression of pure horror. Swat! Swat! Swat! Then, the children see it.
"It's a bee! It's a bee!" and peals of laughter can be heard as the hapless man wriggles and prances onstage to escape a giant bee that has emerged from a plant. That's how Kamin gets children to pay attention to "The Flight of the Bumblebee."
—by Michelle Bova (HS'07)
